Ayla
"You can make me go away, you can take my son from me, but you can't make me die!" ::::::::::-Ayla, The Clan of the Cave Bear Ayla is the main character in Jean M. Auel's Earth's Children series. Characteristics Ayla is described as tall, with blonde hair, gray-blue eyes, a well-toned body, and a strangely accented voice (actually a speech mannerism.)Some of these traits come from living with the clan. Her exceptional strength comes from trying to keep up with the massive Neanderthals. Her speech is also a remnant of their way of speaking, but not as obvious as strength. Almost every male character in the series finds Ayla exceptionally beautiful, though Ayla describes herself as "big and ugly." Another word frequently used to describe her is 'exotic', indicating that she seems a bit foreign to everyone who meets her, and that her own people live somewhere else. Early Life Very little is known of Ayla's family, people and origin. One can assume with the facts given, that her and her parents were on a hunting expedition, or travel of some kind as they were alone. She and her people resided somewhere on the Crimean peninsula before the events that led to Ayla being orphaned. Though it is never explicitly stated in the novel, we can deduce that Ayla's family perished in the earthquake. Frightened and alone, a five year old Ayla wandered the steppes unable to fend for herself. Inadvertantly making her way into Cave Lion territory, she was chased by a male lion into a small gap in the mountain side. She escaped with 4 parallel claw marks on her left leg and her life. Terrified to leave her small sanctuary, thirst finally drove her out. Common Sense saved her by telling herself that she needed to stay near water. Weakened by hunger and a festering wound, after miles of walking Ayla fell into unconciousness by a stream. The Clan of the Cave Bear is a historical fiction novel by Jean M. Auel about prehistoric times set somewhat before the extinction of the Neanderthal race after 600,000 years as a species, and at least 10-15,000 years after 'Homo sapiens' remains are documented and dated in Europe as a viable second human species. It is the first book in the Earth's Children book series which is a purpose-built and written multi-book serial novel, that investigates the possibilities and some likely interactions of Neanderthal and modern Cro-Magnon humans living near each other at the same time. The story begins with a 5-year old girl who is suddenly orphaned and left homeless by an earthquake that destroys her family's camp. She wanders aimlessly, naked and unable to feed herself, for several days until, having been attacked and nearly killed by a cave lion and suffering from starvation, exhaustion, and infection of her wounds, she collapses, on the verge of death. The narrative switches to a group of people—the "Clan"—who have also been made homeless by the destruction of their cave in the earthquake and are trekking in search of a new home. Alerted by vultures circling above the unconscious child, the medicine woman of the group, Iza, asks permission from Brun, the head of the Clan, to rescue the waif. Iza uses her wide knowledge of healing herbs and procedures in order to nurse the little girl back to life. When she regains consciousness, the girl is shocked to find that her rescuers are physically quite different from people with whom she is familiar: they are Neanderthal whilst she is of the Cro-Magnon people (known to her rescuers as the "Others"). Various aspects of the social, physical and cultural differences between the Clan and the Others are brought out in the story, as imagined by Ms. Auel — a portrayal that leans heavily on reasonable archeological and anthropological thinking of the late seventies — which is not to say her portrayal agrees with mainline academic thought, only that it has been well researched as is plausible as she depicts it with her assumptions overlaid. In her theses, the Neanderthals' vocal apparatus is incapable of the range of vocalizations that the Cro-Magnons' is and members of the Clan cannot understand, far less pronounce, the girl's name: the closest they get to it (and the name by which she is subsequently known) is "Ayla". Their racial verbal limitations are presented subtly in fact, as an evolutionary bottleneck, a detriment to competition with the newer more flexible Cro-magnon species with whom they now must compete — Auel's partial explanation of why Neanderthal became extinct soon after the epoch of her setting. However, the Neanderthals are portrayed as having a highly-developed non-verbal language of hand and arm gestures which Ayla at first has difficulty even recognising the existence of. She has been raised with Clan customs, not to laugh or smile, and not to cry. Crying in particular was seen as a genetic weakness of the eyes suffered by the others, or at least by Ayla and her foster-mother Iza was constantly trying new herbal remedies attempting to help Ayla cease such unhealthful tear letting. She breaks many Clan customs while growing up: she secretly watches the men, picks up a weapon, learns how to use a weapon and when discovered after a lengthy period of hiding her skills, runs off with her half-breed child to save him from being put to death by ritual exposure when he is viewed as deformed and therefore defective — a very common anthropologically sound and well documented practice that exists in remote cultures even today. Apart from physical differences there are mental and cultural differences between the Clan and the Others. Mentally, the Neanderthals have highly developed memories including a hereditary Clan memory extending back through countless generations, part of which can be awakened through rituals performed by the Clan's "Mog-ur"—a holy man or Shaman, but most of which is just triggered by reminding a youth of how-to-do a task, or discussing it. Increasing reliance on this ever-accumulating memory has resulted in a strict, almost hide-bound adherence to tradition and decreasing ability to adapt which—the book makes clear—will result in the eventual demise of this branch of humanity. Apart from Ayla and Iza, the character of "Creb", the Mog-ur, is most developed and significant in the book. Born with deformities which would normally have resulted in his being abandoned to die as an infant, he fortuitously was allowed to live and despite—or rather as a result of—his handicap, developed supreme mental and psychic abilities. As a child he was attacked by a Cave Bear, which added to his infirmities but was regarded as being a blessing from the most highly revered and powerful spirit of the Clan people, who regard not just their own group but all people of their kind as an encompassing 'Clan of the Cave Bear'. Creb's abilities are such that he is not only his own group's Mog-ur but "The Mog-ur" of the entire extended clan of Neanderthal peoples in the region. Creb, called "Mogur-One-Eyed" far to the west (geographical estimate: circa Czechoslovakia – Germany region) is quite famous, and his feats are known even outside the local region as Ayla and Jondalar discover in a Clan vs. Cro-Magnon encounter in "The Plains of Passage". Although Creb's powers—and deformities—are such that he is revered and feared by other members of his clan, he is touched by the practically helpless foundling, who encounters him with none of the distancing awe or apprehension of other clan members giving him hitherto unknown warm personal experiences. Consequently, Ayla and Creb establish a close surrogate father/daughter relationship, which even survives despite a serious final unintentional cultural wounding as Ayla clashes with the Clan's male dominated culture, and if discovered would have been put to death for violating a Clan religious (spirit-world) ritual — a wounding Auel repeatedly refers back to at least once in most of the rest of the series' works when discussing Ayla's feelings about the spirit world, each time crediting Creb with saving her. These flash-backs are likely part of her overall series story arch background and rationale, but the spirit world episode and its repeated visitations are clearly important. Overall in its timeline, the novel follows Ayla's development from child to young (teenaged) woman and mother of 11-14, illustrating en route various aspects of the Clan's way of life: hunting and gathering, early mating, and social relationships, rituals, taboos, beliefs, and environment. A major sub-plot thread running through the book is the mutually antagonistic relationship between Ayla and the heir-apparent leader Broud, son of the leader and brother of Creb and Iza, Brun. Short of unexpected death, Broud is and will be appointed as the successor of his father as leader of the clan, given their hide-bound traditions, so Iza eventually advises Ayla to leave and seek her own kind, "the others", before the juvenile friction that has become hate can put Ayla at his mercy. This interaction culminates with his raping (within our cultural outlook, but not to the Clan's) and eventually impregnating Ayla as he demands his due as a male, repeatedly demanding she help him "release his needs". The offspring is considered 'deformed', although he is simply a hybrid mix between the two sub-species — a characterization which is repeated among Cro-magnon societies and termed "abominations" as is depicted in the various sequels where it is Cro-magnons who commit more overt and heinous rapine according to Auel. He is unexpectedly accepted by the Clan, and he is called Durc, being named after a revered hero of legend — which again fans the flames of hate between Ayla and Broud, only this time, his father is already preparing to retire and cede him the Clan leadership authority. The book ends with Creb's death, Broud's succession and his banishment (ritual death curse) of Ayla, who sets off to find other people of her own kind as Iza, on her deathbed years before, had urged Ayla to do (but which Ayla put off until Broud banished her). She is not allowed to take her son with her, a tragic event that scars Ayla's psyche for the rest of the series. The sequel "The Valley of Horses" continues Ayla's story, which is further developed in other books of the Earth's Children series, which include "The Mammoth Hunters"; "The Plains of Passage"; and "The Shelters of Stone." Auel is still working on the final book planned in the series, and according to web posts by her son is in negotiations to do a seventh work as a series finale Valley of Horses The book starts off from the events at end of The Clan of the Cave Bear detailing the life of the female protagonist, a young woman named Ayla (clearly Homo sapiens, aka Cro-Magnon) must face life after being exiled from the band of Neanderthals, known as the Clan, who had raised her from early childhood. The book follows the journey Ayla makes to find her own people, whom the Clan refer to as "the Others." It also follows the parallel travels of a new character, Cro-Magnon Jondalar of the Ninth Cave of the Zelandonii, accompanying his impetuous younger half-brother Thonolan on a rite of passage tradition — a "great Journey" — to walk the entire length of the "Great Mother River" (the Danube) and find its fabled mouth and the sea beyond (Black Sea). Ayla, alone and ritually ostracized from the only people she has ever known, travels steadily from the Black Sea peninsular home of her former tribe northwards for around half a year until finding the book's titular valley sunk deep into the windy landscape of the periglacial loess steppes (Ukraine), about the time she begins to worry about never finding her "others" and dwelling on the need to prepare for winter by setting in stores. Finding a suitable cave and many conveniences in the valley eventually leads her to establish a comfortable but lonely life there after initially stopping to hunt a larger animal. She is romantically depicted as being the first to domesticate an animal, a colt she'd orphaned by killing its mother, and her mothering protective instincts eventually lead her to also adopt a wounded cave lion cub while keeping productive with arts and crafts projects during the long winters spanning several years to stave off her lack of company, and while the animals mature enabling the sub-plots of the back story. Auel uses her desire for companionship to segue the storyline to the adventures surrounding the domestication the foal of a horse she hunted, naming the filly Whinney and, in time after a long winter, discovering how to ride her when a yearling. Emboldened by this success and reveling at the lack of opposition from tribal male authorities, she takes in and treats an injured cave lion cub, a carnivore she knows full well she'd have never been allowed to even treat, much less keep if still with the Clan, which she names Baby. Both Baby and especially Whinney figure as major characters in this book and the sequel "The Mammoth Hunters". Indeed, the horses (her colt to-be figures large in the meeting with Jondalar, and thereafter) are an important theme anchoring "animal domestication" of the whole series and many of its subplots and incidents. During their respective mating seasons, both of these 'sympathetic characters' depart creating stress and a degree of tragedy for Ayla, Baby to find a lioness and gradually (implied) adding more companions, warring for territory, founding his own pride while occasionally returning for a 'visit-with-his-mom'; and earlier, the two year-old mare Whinney, with Ayla's reluctant connivance, to find a stallion cum herd, with whom she conceives a foal while Ayla looks on. Watching animals couple sexually leads Ayla, released from the strictures of tribal prejudices and beliefs, to hypothesize a recurrent sub-theme of the whole series — that babies come from male-female couplings, not just from spirits mixed by tribal powers, as is believed by all the cultures of the series painted by Auel. Although separated for the summer while living with the herd, the mare later returns after the weather turns foul with the start of a new winter. Ayla's beliefs that males create at least the conditions for babies to occur is disseminated only in the series' fourth and fifth works, and hasn't fully played out within the series. Meanwhile, Jondalar and Thonolan travel east along the mountainous course of Great Mother River's north (left) bank, occasionally making friends and facing dangers. Auel uses them in counterpoint to introduce her vision of the nature religion centered on the neolythic worship of the Great Mother of All (by several names, depending upon the local culture and language) and sexuality which is her gift and the practice of which "Honors the Mother". The Great Journey was Thonolan's idea originally; Jondalar decided to accompany him partially to fulfill his dreams of travel, and partially to leave his quasi-fiancée, the beautiful-but-shrewish Marona, whom expects him at the altar, but whom Jondalar hasn't quite proposed to, as far as he understands the situation. Thonalon is a carefree likable charasmatic joker of a character who provides a counter-point to his more serious, somewhat darker, and far more worisome older brother. Jondalar, who complements magnetic handsomeness with a quiet, brooding demeanor and supreme skills at pillow play, is often the recipient of female attention along the Journey, though Thonolan, with his candid nature and laughing eyes, is frequently able to charm the most lovely of the women around him. One of these, Jetamio of the Sharamudoi, becomes his mate, while Jondalar attempts to settle down with a woman named Serenio but fails to because of his confusing inability to fall in love with her, which she is able to sense despite a valiant try by him to make it happen — a failure which she can sense. Thonolan's story ends in tragedy, however, when Jetamio dies trying to birth their firstborn child driving him into a dark uncaring mindset and a determination to travel once more. Thonolan, the original impetus of their Journey, resumes his travels, intent on finding either the end of the river or death, while a worried Jondalar trails alongside him, trying to mitigate the more foolish impulses of his now foolhardy sibling. The two characters' travels are described in alternating chapters (or double chapters) alternating with Ayla's more or less concurrent experiences in her home in the Valley of Horses for most of the book. The two reach the end of The Great Mother River, and nearly perish in quicksand, but encounter people of the Mammoth Hunters, several of whom they have become distant relatives too via Thonalon's marriage. Invited to join in a mammoth hunt with the organized hunts of the large gathering of all the Mammoth Hunter groups, the Summer Meeting, the two head north ahead of the camp they met as summer begins intending to visit with the gathering groups and join the first hunt of the year. Jondalar and Ayla meet when Thonolan attempts to hunt a wild deer but is relieved of his kill by a cave lioness, who'd concurrently charged the kill. Reckless within his dark grief, Thonalon insists on pursuing the lioness to her den, with Jondalar following reluctantly, and intened to steal within and take a share of the meat, but the plan falls apart when she leaves for her mate is guarding the lair and attacks them; the screams alert Ayla who is out exercising a very pregnant Whinney, but who is able to rescue Jondalar when that male lion turns out to be no other than Baby, a lion conditioned from birth to her discipline. Though Thonolan has already been killed, Jondalar is still alive, though gravely wounded, and Ayla saves the first member of the Others she has ever known. First she cleverly realizes she can use a loose hillside with an unstable slope of bolder blocked skree to cover Thonalon in an impromptu, but effective grave. Using the travois Auel also attributes Ayla to inventing, she transports Jondalar to her cave in the valley and invents stitches in sewing him back together. The remaining chapters of the novel are essentially a love story punctuated with youthful inexperience, unreasoning natal prejudices (Jondalar's people refer to the Clan as the pejorative "Flatheads" and think them loathsome sub-human animals) and handicapped by the need to learn to communicate (Ayla needs to learn to talk verbally for starters). As Ayla and Jondalar learn to communicate, get to know each other, overcome the many culture clashes resulting from their differing upbringings, they have many misunderstandings disappointments and eventually fall in love. Ayla's language skills take a progressive leap after she uncovers a repressed childhood memory about her mother that predates the earthquake that killed her parents; thereafter Jondalar is able to clear up many of the mysteries of her background. However, this creates its own set of crises when he learns who raised her—and, furthermore, about the "child of mixed spirits" (his culture considers an abomination) she left behind—and must fight the prejudices of his culture and upbringing to accept her for who she is. He finally sees just how foolish his unfounded natal beliefs are and that allows him to patch up their built up misunderstandings and bring himself to administer his cultures highly esteemed First Rites after coming to understand her unusual circumstances. Despite having to overcome all these obstacles, the two fall in love as the book nears its end, and feeling themselves ready for winter decide to leave the Valley of Horses and strike out for a pre-winter exploratory holiday in regions around the valley Ayla hadn't explored or visited much because of natural barriers. The story ends with Ayla and Jondalar meeting a group known as The Mammoth Hunters, which (not coincidentally) is the title of the next book in the series. The series overall story continues in sequels The Plains of Passage and The Shelters of Stone of six original planned novels outlined, by Auel has recently represented plans to write a seventh as a series finale This book picks up where The Valley of Horses ends; Ayla and Jondalar, meet a group known as the Mamutoi, or Mammoth Hunters, with whom they live for a period of time. As the group's name suggests, their hosts rely on mammoth not only for food but also for building materials and a number of other commodities - and indeed for spiritual sustenance. The protagonists make their home with the Lion Camp of the Mammoth Hunters, which features a number of respected Mamutoi. Wisest of their nation is Old Mamut, their eldest shaman and the leader of the entire Mamutoi priesthood, who becomes Ayla's mentor and colleague in the visionary and esoteric fields of thought. Observing Ayla's affinity with horses and wolves, Mamut begins to introduce her into the ranks of the Mamuti (mystics). Mamut is also one of the first to become aware of Ayla's unique upbringing, as many years ago he was saved by the medicine woman of the same clan that brought her up (the grandmother of Ayla's adoptive mother Iza) as he broke his arm while on his Journey. He learned some of the Clan sign language during that stay, and became aware of the fact that the Clan are human (not animals, as is the common opinion of most of his people). Also within the Lion Camp is a six-year-old boy named Rydag who is half Clan (Neanderthal) and half Others (Cro-Magnon). He was adopted by the headman's mate, Nezzie, when his mother died giving birth to him. He cannot speak, having the same vocal limitations as the Clan, but he also has their memories. Ayla quickly discovers this and teaches him, and the rest of the Lion Camp, the Clan sign language. Rydag is a sickly child, having a heart defect which limits him from even playing like the other children of the Camp. Many Mamutoi regard him as an animal, but Ayla and the Lion Camp are vehement in their defence of him. Rydag's intelligence, maturity and wit endear him to Jondalar as well, who learns to overcome his cultural prejudice towards Clan and half-Clan people. More so than any other book in the Earth's Children series, The Mammoth Hunters relies on the tension created by the relationships between the characters to create a storyline, in that Ayla's susceptibility to being deceived or confused, caused by her upbringing among essentially honest people, leads the more complicated, obstinate, and passionate Jondalar to make multiple errors. The primary conflict is a love triangle between Jondalar, Ayla, and Lion Camp member Ranec. Ayla almost mates with Ranec before several last-minute revelations reunite the former pair. Some fans have criticised author Jean Auel for making the book somewhat of a soap opera compared to her other works. Nonetheless, many readers report having enjoyed the book. At the end of this novel, Ayla and Jondalar leave for the year-long return journey to Jondalar's people, the Zelandonii, a journey detailed in The Plains of Passage and continued in The Shelters of Stone. Plains of Passage The Plains of Passage describes the journey of Ayla and Jondalar west along the Great Mother River (the Danube), from the home of The Mammoth Hunters (roughly modern Ukraine) to Jondalar's homeland (close to Les Eyzies, Dordogne, France). During this journey, Ayla meets the various peoples who live along their line of march. These meetings, the attitudes and beliefs of these groups, and Ayla's response form an essential part of the story. . Characters range in description from innocent to bloodthirsty, from serious to comical, from noble to corrupt, from found to lost, and from peaceful to violent. Unusually, Ayla (and to some extent Jondalar) is often viewed by her new friends as mystic or supernatural, partially due to her friendships with the world's first known domesticated horses and wolf, but also due to her generous nature and wisdom. At first they encounter people Jondalar and his brother met on their journey eastward, and have a hard time leaving them, especially after an offer to become joined with a high-ranking Sharamudoi. Jondalar declines each offer, desiring to have the lead mystic of his people lay his dead brother to rest. The Plains of Passage is one of the longer books in the Earth's Children series. It was followed by The Shelters of Stone. Shelters of Stone Central to this book is the tension created by Ayla's healing art, her pregnancy, and the acceptance of her by Jondalar's people, the Zelandonii. Ayla was raised by Clan Neanderthals, known as "flatheads" to the Zelandonii and viewed as no better than animals. For the Zelandonii to accept Ayla they must first overcome their prejudice against the Neanderthals. Luckily for Ayla and Jondalar, some of the higher-ranking Zelandonii already have doubts of this misjudgment. Two of their number, Echozar and Brukeval, are of Neandertal ancestry and are ashamed of it. Echozar at least is pacified by Ayla's own story and by his (Echozar's) own marriage to Joplaya, Jondalar's close-cousin (half-sister). Brukeval, on the other hand, rejects his heritage utterly and refuses to listen to reason. Jondalar's first romantic interest, Zelandoni, formerly known as Zolena, has now become the First among the spiritual leaders. She supports adopting Ayla into their society, if not least for the healing arts she brings to the cave, although Ayla also must overcome the feeling that she is not skilled in that area. After Ayla helps a mortally injured hunter live long enough to see his mate, the First senses that Ayla needs to be brought into the fold of the Zelandonia so that she will be accepted as a healer by all the people of the cave. At one point, Ayla persuades the native mothers to nurse a neglected infant, on the pretext that even a "flathead" would have done so in their place. This both shames them into agreeing (as noted by Jondalar's sister-in-law, Proleva) and educates the Zelandonii in the ways of their ex-neighbors. Ayla is drawn ever closer to an as yet undetermined role in the Ninth Cave of the Zelandonii. Her knowledge of the healing arts as well as hunting force her to accept a role in the spiritual leadership of the group. Through it all Jondalar is waiting for the summer meeting and matrimonial that will finally "tie the knot" for the two of them. This has been his ultimate goal since The Valley of Horses. Their daughter, Jonayla, named for her mother's belief a man's 'essence' creates babies, which leads to Jondalar and Ayla each being part of the baby, not just their spirits, is born sometime after this event. Not long after the birth, Ayla finally decides to become Zelandoni's acolyte, if only so the members of the Zelandonii will accept her as a healer. This book is set in what is now the Vézère valley, near to Les Eyzies, in the Dordogne, southwest France. It was relatively densely populated in prehistoric times, with many open cliff-top dwellings that can still be seen, some of which have been turned into tourist attractions. The national museum of prehistory is located in this valley. Ayla also discovers the world-famous cave of Lascaux, which her adopted people subsequently paint. Family Italics indicate an adoptive relationship: in this case, through Iza's adoption of Ayla as her daughter and later, through Mamut's adoption of Ayla as his daughter. Ancestors: Iza (mother), Creb (father), Mamut (father), Uba (maternal great-grandmother) Siblings: Uba (sister) Mate: Jondalar Issue: Durc (son by Broud), Jonayla (daughter by Jondalar) Extended Family: Broud (first cousin), Brac (first cousin once removed), Grev (first cousin once removed), Durc (first cousin once removed) Category:Characters